National News

Jun 13, 2019

8:23PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral meetings with Presidents of China and Russia at Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek this evening. The talks were held on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organization- SCO summit which began today.

In a series of tweets, Prime Minister Modi said, he had a fruitful meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He said, their talks included the full spectrum of India-China relations.

The Prime Minister said, the two countries will continue working together to improve economic and cultural ties. In a tweet, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, both the leaders discussed all aspects of enriching the bilateral relations between two countries.

They recognised the positive role of strategic communication in deepening their partnership. Mr Xi also congratulated Prime Minister Modi on his poll victory.

On his meeting with the Russian President, the Prime Minister said, he had a wonderful meeting with Mr Vladimir Putin. He said, various subjects pertaining to India-Russia relations were discussed during the meeting.

AIR correspondent covering the Prime Minister's visit reports that on the sidelines of the summit, Prime Minister Modi is also scheduled to meet many other world leaders including Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and President of the Kyrgyz Republic and SCO Chair Sooronbay Jeenbekov.

Prime Minister Modi reached Bishkek this afternoon to attend the two-day meeting of Council of Heads of States (CHS) of SCO summit. The Prime Minister was accorded warm welcome on his arrival at Manas International airport in Kyrgyz capital. This is Mr Modi's first multi-lateral summit after his re-election as the Prime Minister.

Presidents and Prime Ministers of 8 member countries will participate in this multilateral international forum which will also be attended by 4 head of states as observers. The SCO is a China-led eight-member economic and security bloc.

In July 2015 in Ufa, Russia, the SCO decided to admit India and Pakistan as full members and both the countries officially joined SCO as full members during the Astana Summit in 2017. The CHS is the supreme decision-making body in the SCO. This will be the second CHS meeting after India became a member of SCO.

The Prime Minister will address the plenary session of the SCO Summit tomorrow, where he will present his vision for the regional cooperation and development through the SCO forum.